‘Doctor Who,’ Season 7, Episode 1, ‘Asylum of the Daleks’: TV Recap

The season premier of ‘Doctor Who’ gives us zombies, more Daleks than we’ve ever seen in one location, the break-up and make-up of one of one of our most loved couples and a new companion. There are also new credits with a fresh font and Dalek bumps on the logo. All in 45 minutes that seem more like a movie than an episode of television.

We open on Skaro, the homeworld of the Doctor’s most iconic enemies: the Daleks. A woman has contacted the Doctor. He realizes it’s is a trap just as a Dalek eyestalk bursts out of her forehead.

Meanwhile, Amy Pond, supermodel, is interrupted during a photo shoot. An assistant tells her that her husband is there, but she replies, “I don’t have a husband.” Rory sits in a makeup chair with divorce papers. She quickly signs them and he storms out. What happened to our beloved Ponds?

As Amy sits dazed, her makeup artist’s forehead grows a Dalek eyestalk. The same happens with Rory’s bus driver. They wake up on a spaceship with the Doctor. The Dalek Prime Minister demands that the three of them go down to the Dalek asylum, where the most hate-filled Daleks are kept, and deactivate the planet’s force field.

We’re introduced to a pretty brunette genius named Oswin (Jenna-Louise Coleman) who crashed on the planet a year ago. She spends her downtime baking soufflés, hacking into the Daleks’ systems and blasting Bizet’s Carmen. The Doctor ponders where she gets the milk for her soufflés as he and the Ponds are teleported down to the asylum.

The Doctor and Amy are separated from Rory, giving them time to catch up as they are attacked by Dalek zombies. Amy tells the Doctor that he can’t fix her marriage like he fixes his bowtie.

They escape, but Amy loses her wristband that keeps her from being turned into a Dalek zombie herself. She begins losing her memory as they search for Rory. The cheeky Oswin flirts with both the Doctor and the newly single Rory over the intercom as she helps them find each other. Back off Oswin, he’s taken!

The Doctor makes one of the Daleks self-destruct, blowing up the others. He goes to find Oswin, leaving the former Mr. and Mrs. Pond to talk.

Rory tells Amy she should take his anti-zombie armband because the Dalek conversion works by eliminating love and it’s obvious he loves Amy more than she loves him. He reminds her that he waited 2000 years to be with her (swoon). She becomes angry and says she loves him more and that’s why she let him go. Amy can no longer have children, and thinks Rory deserves a chance to have them.

As they work things out, Rory realizes Amy is actually wearing a wristband – the Doctor gave her his. As he walks past a security camera, the Doctor fixes his bowtie.

The Doctor enters intensive care, where the Daleks who hate him most are housed. They corner him, but Oswin is able to hack into the Daleks and delete all knowledge the Doctor.

He arrives at Oswin’s chamber and she begins to pack. As he walks in, his face falls. He asks Oswin again how she had milk for her soufflés. She pauses, confused, and the camera pans around to show not a pretty girl but a chained up Dalek.

Apparently, when Oswin crashed on the planet, she was converted to a Dalek, but she was clever enough to create an elaborate fantasy world. She fights her Dalek programming and lets the Doctor go.

The Doctor returns to find Amy and Rory kissing (yay!). Oswin takes down the planet’s shields and the Doctor teleports Team Tardis back to the Dalek spaceship. As the planet explodes, Oswin turns to the camera and promises she’ll see us again soon. (Oswin is played by actress Jenna-Louise Coleman, who is taking over for the Ponds as the Doctor’s traveling companion beginning with the Christmas special in December. It appears we already saw the end of her story, yet with ‘Doctor Who,’ you never know.)

The Daleks are confused when the Doctor appears on their ship. “Doctor who? Doctor who?” they chant. He realizes Oswin not only erased memories of him from the Daleks in the room with him, but all Daleks everywhere.

He drops Amy and Rory off at their townhouse in London. After an awkward pause, Amy turns and walks into their home. Rory grins and follows her.

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